"Conventional wisdom holds that different people learn in different ways. Something is missing from that idea, however, so we offer a corollary:
Different people,
when presented with exactly the same information in exactly the same way,
will learn different things." - John Seely Brown Read more

Get up in the morning and make yourself a cup of Sanka with Sweet 'n' Low. Line up all the lunchboxes on the formica counter top in your kitchen. Open up a bag of Wonder Bread and do this assembly line style. Read more

"But what is overlooked in all the shouting is that paradoxically,
the people who
have the most to gain from insuring some measure of
economic equality and social justice
are the wealthy." by Joseph Ganem Ph.D. Read more

"The idea being that wasn't necessarily to create little engineers everywhere, though that would be great for us.
The idea was to take advantage of the natural learning process
and curiosity
that children have at that age . . ."
Tamika Lang, Boeing Read more

Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus at MIT, "father of linguistics", political commentator. From bio: "Besides his work in linguistics, Chomsky is internationally recognized as one of the most critically engaged public intellectuals alive today": ... Read more

The Best Commencement of 2013 - George Saunders: "But still. It bothers me. So here's something I know to be true, although it's a little corny, and I don't quite know what to do with it: What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly." Read more

The New Normal? Unless . . . Today, another school shooting. This time in Oregon. One student dead. One teacher injured."All told, there has been nearly one shooting per week in the year and a half since Newtown."June 10, 2014... Read more

" . . .we've spent hours and hours discussing how we can help students follow their interests and passions, and also help students learn powerful ideas and develop as systematic thinkers." Mitchel Resnick on Alan Kay, Squeak and Scratch Read more

"First, students have to jump through
ever-more demanding, preassigned academic hoops.
Instead of developing a passion for one subject,
they're rewarded for becoming professional students,
getting great grades across all subjects,
regardless of their intrinsic interests."
- David Brooks, The Creative Monopoly Read more

Pro-innovation-disruption-MOOC-advocate and NYTimes columnist Thomas Friedman
gets nostalgic:
"That's why, when the Internet first emerged and you had to connect via a modem, I used to urge that modems sold in America come with a warning label from the surgeon general, like cigarettes. It would read: "Attention: Judgment not included." Read more

Artless & Senseless? "Once it is recognized that productive thinking
in any area of cognition is perceptual thinking,
the central function of art in general education
will become evident."
-Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking
Read more

FACEBOOK Zuckerberg father: "Rather than impose upon your kids or try and steer their lives in a certain direction, to recognize what their strengths are and support their strengths and support the development of the things they're passionate about." Read more

"What's particularly interesting about recent research is the revelation
that sitting for extended periods of time does significant damage
to human health that cannot be undone by exercising."
Read more

College Missing In Action: J.D. Salinger, Harry S. Truman, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner -- Didn't Attend College Or Dropped Out --
"Some of the people coming out of those apprenticeships are in more demand than college graduates because they've actually managed things in the workplace." Read more

"Creativity, he said, might be an even more valuable asset
that educators and parents should emphasize."
-WSJ quoting Larry Summers, former President of Harvard, President Obama and Clinton advisor Read more

Larry Ellison of Oracle recently closed on the purchase of a majority ownership of land in Lanai, Maui, Hawaii (for those who've been on vacation), which was the catalyst for re-publishing this classic post which may still resonate . . . Like it or him or not, he is another M.I.A. (Missing in Action- didn't graduate or attend college who is among the notable and/or accomplished) Read more

"Parents could turn the system on its head
if they weren't so caught up in outmoded mentalities about education forged in the stable economy of the 1950s
(but profoundly misguided in today's chaotic, entrepreneurial economy)." Read more

There is a Play Deficit in our country and it is harming our children. Our children are playing less than any previous generation, and research clearly shows this lack of play is producing profound physical, intellectual, social and emotional problems for today's kids. Read more

There is a "high" one get from this substance - which is also hidden in so-called "healthy" foods such bread, tomato sauce, yogurt - where one needs more of it over time to get the same feeling of satisfaction, even after a week. Read more

The series is called "Desktop Diaries" - with three videos that are such an indulgent insight into their working minds, as expressed by their organization - pack rat version, the
streamlined version Read more

"It is sad to me when I hear parents feeling bad that they aren't doing "x",
or feeling bad or embarrassed that they are doing "y"or doing too much of "x",
or reluctant to ask questions and convey their concerns." Read more

"Rather than riding the texture of a live conversation to figure out how to give and receive information, people are now used to simply pushing their thoughts out into the world, to be responded to at some undetermined future point." Read more

"I totally give him this like, a new lease on life.
He's gonna go to a totally new college,
he's gonna be bound for a totally new career and a totally new path in life."
-Sam Eshaghoff on 60 Minutes Read more

Holiday Movie Time! If you missed last night's 60 Minutes on CBS, check out Streep in this fabulous interview with Morley Safer. We also included a fun second video which was not featured on the show, Meryl's Men: How She Feels about her Co-Stars like Dustin, Jack, Kevin and Alec. Read more

Youth Motivation & Mastery: Create the environment conducive to having kids discover what it takes to become good at something on their own, rather than having "us" - the authority figures - telling them how. Read more

"We do not tolerate intellectual dishonesty from our children in our schools. But it is apparently tolerated and promoted everywhere else. Educational standards cannot be improved until adults begin to model the education values that they loudly espouse." Read more

Excerpt from The Atlantic Monthly: "The video shows how magazines are now useless and
impossible to understand, for digital natives. [A] humble tribute to Steve Jobs,
by the most important person: a baby." Not such a great thing . . . Read more

" . . we had a PC education -
people tried to hide from us as long as possible that not everyone is equal
we were told we all have a fair chance of making it
that's just not so
and we're starting to realize that . . ."
Read more

The parents reading this article in the Wall Street Journal are more likely to be the ones
having their their children tutored, equally-scheduled, and possibly kinda cheating,
and/or privately schooled, and legacy-guaranteed to some
marquee-name university, so they can agree with Chua's so called superior- parenting techniques . . . ." C.J. Westerberg Read more

"Numerous research studies point to why developing good teachers should be our priority,
how effective teachers improve student learning, and the devastating effect that ineffective teachers have on students (many a parent can relate to this)." Read more

"Change is hard," Obama says. "If people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."- "Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview" by Jann Wenner"'Given how much stuff was... Read more

Wish-We-Thought-of-ThatThe Daily Show Version of "Education Nation" and "Waiting for Superman"Video Below (Humor)An education news round-up that only Lewis Black on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show can do . . . Black takes no prisoners with NBC's special "Education Nation"... Read more

"It's a moment ripe with ferment and possibility, but also rife with conflict, in which the kind of change that fills many hearts with hope fills others with mortal dread-
and which gives a movie like 'Superman' a rare chance to move the needle." Read more

A "New Cache Society"?On-Line Messages Live Permanently On the WebFuture College & Job Seekers: Listen UpVideo Below With so much press dedicated to cyberbullying and the ill effects of too much time spent on-line, let us not forget how important... Read more

Best education video of 2010? Brilliant TED talk by Chris Lehmann, principal of Science Leadership Academy -- a featured school in "Apple in Education" series takes on technology to meta-cognition to empowering students to the role of education. Check it out. Read more

Check out Brian Williams and his "Teacher Town Hall", streaming live, which "will bring together teachers from across the country, both in-person and online, to brainstorm ideas, talk about what works . . . Read more

. . . .this test is that measures (and values) exactly the opposite qualities that are generally most valued in schools, especially in middle and high schools, where compliance, conformity and rigid adherency to instruction, rules and "what is taught" are rewarded and highly valued . . . Read more

"Companies in second-tier tech locations such as Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C., had an easier time recruiting talented employees during the slump. But now that Silicon Valley firms have started aggressively hiring, and the general economy is improving, competition is stiffening. . . " Read more

College Inc., a powerful special documentary aired last night on PBS's Frontline, covers the hot topics in higher education and is just too compelling to miss: for-profit schools like Phoenix University and DeVry, how on-line is impacting higher ed, the... Read more

Directed and produced by Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim of An Inconvenient Truth, Superman "reminds us that education 'statistics' have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily." Read more

HBO's "The Pacific" - See new videos below w/Stephen Spielberg & Tom Hanks at The White House PLUS Hanks has some fun with Stephen Colbert defending his "History Maker" moniker, as coined by Time magazine. Read more

Newsweek breaks this week with terrific multi-article coverage of First Lady Michelle Obama's take-no-prisoners campaign to help bring our child obesity epidemic and our super-size-it mentality to a tipping point. Link to articles here. An excerpt of her much-needed "tough... Read more

The Federal Stimulus and "Race to the Top" Grants - How Will It Affect Education?According to The Christian Science Monitor this month:"The federal stimulus money for education is prompting states, much more than before, to embrace reforms promoted by the... Read more

The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around them is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely until they - at some distant point in the future - will take over the reigns. Yet the fact is that the society is not running itself nicely... because the rest of us need all the energy, brains, imagination and talent that young people can bring to bear down on our difficulties. For society to attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of even very young people is imbecile.